The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday issued guidelines for Covid-19 vaccination for children between 15-18 years, and “precaution dose” for health care and frontline workers, and those above the age of 60 with comorbidities. The Centre also extended the enforcement of nationwide Covid-19 containment measures until 31 January 2022. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday directed all states and union territories (UTs) to observe all precautions, and not let their guard down. The Election Commission, meanwhile, on Monday met Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and discussed the rising number of Covid-19 cases along with vaccination status in the five poll-bound states.
The vaccination of children in the 15-18 age group will start from 3 January 2022, and according to the new guidelines, the vaccination option will be “Covaxin” only. From 1 January, children in the age group of 15-18 will be eligible to register on the CoWIN platform. CoWIN platform chief Dr R.S. Sharma said: “We’ve added an additional (10th) ID card for registration—the student ID card because some might not have Aadhaar or other identity cards.”
The precaution dose can be taken only after 9 months i.e., 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose. The priority group is health care workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) who have received two doses and are thus eligible to get the “precaution dose” of Covid-19 vaccine from 10 January 2022.
As per the guidelines for 60 years and above with comorbidities, the government said, “All persons aged 60 years and above with comorbidities who have received two doses of Covid-19 vaccine, will on doctor’s advice be provided with a precaution dose from January 10, 2022. The prioritization and sequencing of this precaution dose would be based on the completion of 9 months i.e. 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose.”
The guidelines will come into effect from 3 January 2022 and will be reviewed from time to time. All HCWs, FLWs and citizens aged 60 years or above with comorbidities will be able to access the vaccination for precaution dose through their existing Co-WIN account. Eligibility of such beneficiaries for the precaution dose will be based on the date of administration of 2nd dose as recorded in the Co-WIN system. Co-WIN system will send SMS to such beneficiaries for availing the precaution dose when the dose becomes due. Registration and appointment services can be accessed through both, the online and the onsite modes. The details of the administration of the precaution dose will be suitably reflected in the vaccination certificates.
All those aged 15 years or more will be able to register on Co-WIN. In other words, all those whose birth year is 2007 or before, shall be eligible. Beneficiaries can self-register, online through an existing account on Co-WIN or can also register by creating a new account through a unique mobile number, this facility is available for all eligible citizens presently. Such beneficiaries can also be registered onsite by the verifier/vaccinator in facilitated registration mode.
CONTAINMENT
MEASURES
The Centre on Monday extended the enforcement of nationwide Covid-19 containment measures until 31 January 2022, as concerns rose over the emergence of increased detection of the Covid-19 Variant of Concern (VoC) “Omicron” in different parts of the country. Referring to the increased Omicron cases, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an advisory to all the states and Union Territories (UTs), directing them to implement a “normative framework for taking evidence-based containment measures at district and local level” and extended the Covid-19 containment measures till 31 January next year. The National Directives for Covid-19 management shall continue to be strictly followed throughout the country and all the district magistrates shall enforce the measures. “For the enforcement of social distancing, state and UT governments may, as far as possible, use the provisions of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973,” mentions the advisory. According to the order any person violating these measures will be “liable to be proceeded against as per the provisions of Sections 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, besides legal action under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, and other legal provisions, as applicable.”
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also wrote a letter to all Chief Secretaries to all states and stressed on the need for “greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making, and strict and prompt containment actions at the local and district levels, based on the assessment of the situation”. He said that the “states may consider imposing need-based, local curbs and restrictions, to control the crowd during the festive season”.
India has logged 6,531 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Monday. As per the Health Ministry, the country’s active caseload stands at 75,841. “Active cases constitute 0.22% of the country’s total positive cases, which is lowest since March 2020,” said the Ministry. The tally of cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus in the country has risen to 578.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Monday met Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and discussed the rising number of Covid-19 cases along with vaccination status in the five poll-bound states. As per sources, the Election Commission and Health Ministry will also hold another meeting in January next year.